Sunday, November 22, 2015

Here's a recent newsletter from my friend's website for which I act as webmaster.

Join a select little community where you can enjoy your chess in good company. We use email to play tourneys and individual games with no time limits and no pressure.
Here are some of the goodies on offer:

- Enter the tournaments for free. Or maybe you prefer just to challenge individual members.

- Play through some of the other members' games and submit your own. Have your comments and annotations published on the site.

- Watch the videos eg "Trick of The Mind" video where a non-rated player beat 9 professional players simultaneously. How did he do that?

- LATEST ... play a live game against a real opponent, courtesy of the Internet Chess Club (ICC).

You can choose how long the match will last. No registration, no fuss.
Do have a look around the site to find chess news, stories, photos and useful chess links. If you are interested in joining us, send me an e-mail to pauldfawcett{at}outlook.com[Turn on JavaScript to see the email address].

Enjoy your chess!
Dave Fawcett.

P.S. If you are already a member I would be grateful if you could circulate this NEWSLETTER to any of your friends who might be interested!
Read more...

Friday, May 2, 2014

The newly-crowned World Champion has not been resting on his laurels (as Fischer once did) and his latest foray was in the Gashimov Memorial. He managed to lose two games in a row (a feat that I, too, am frequently able to achieve with no trouble at all).

Nevertheless, Magnus won overall. The important game (played on 30 April 2014) was against Fabiano Caruana and it was an excellent match. I offer you this link in the knowledge that the commentary is first class. The commentator, "KingCrusher" (nee Tryfon Gavriel, FIDE 2150) currently has 5167 videos on YouTube and runs an excellent online chess club.

Here is a quote from the aforementioned "KingCrusher":
"The answer to life, the universe and everything was 42 according to 'The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy' but maybe for chess players it should be 64 ".

Your blog poster, Mr_Toad, will be 64 years old on June 2nd!

When I get older, losing my hair, many years from nowWill you still be sending me a valentine, birthday greetings, bottle of wine?If I'd been out 'til quarter to three, would you lock the door?Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I'm sixty-four?

You'll be older tooAh, and if you say the word, I could stay with you

I could be handy, mending a fuse when your lights have goneYou can knit a sweater by the fireside, Sunday mornings, go for a rideDoing the garden, digging the weeds, who could ask for more?Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I'm sixty-four?

Every summer we can rent a cottageIn the Isle of Wight if it's not too dearWe shall scrimp and saveAh, grandchildren on your knee, Vera, Chuck and Dave

Send me a postcard, drop me a line stating point of viewIndicate precisely what you mean to say, yours sincerely wasting awayGive me your answer, fill in a form, mine forever moreWill you still need me, will you still feed me when I'm sixty-four?

Songwriters
Paul Mc Cartney, John Lennon (as you probably know, this was Paul's song - John always characterised it as his friend's "Granny music"!)
Read more...

About this blog

Chess contains more than enough complexity to merit serious philosophic consideration. It is a world in itself, mirroring so many aspects of our existence. The miracle is that all of this can be achieved inside an 8 by 8 array.

I am not a strong enough player to provide you with any great analytical insights, but I have played over a number of years and, hopefully, my love of the game will be on show in this blog.

The photograph at the top is of my brother (please see the post entitled "My Big Brother, David") enjoying his games against two friends in his local pub - which is how I like to remember him, now he has gone.